Template



Aug. 4, 1936.

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TEMPLATE Filed May 17' 1935 gf'hhw" 4. l l 1 i l |210 1 l 1 l l l l l'la 1 1 l Mini@ 2 Sheets-Shea?l l INVENTQR- Aug, 4, 1936 A. w. KEUFFELTEMPLATE Filed May 17, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ADOLF W hEl/FFELE1Y(.Q`

.00.00.9.09 '.Qomnuueoonaoccsoa NGE Q ?atented ug. 4, 1936 UNITED lSTATES PATENT OFFICE TEMILATE Application May 17, 1933, Serial No.671,463

6 Claims. (Cl. 33-23) This invention relatespt'o scribing devices of thekind in which a Writing instrument is carried by a body member andisdirected over the surface to be written upon by a tracer pin movablein character grooves formed in a template and by a tail pin movable. ina groove parallel with the line of lettering.

- Devices of the character described have heretofore been awkward touse, limited in their application and complicated in design tocounteract inherent defects.

One object of the present invention is an lmproved template for use witha scribing device of the character described in which the charactergrooves are easily visible. Accordingly, the character grooves are of acontrasting color from that of the template.

Another object of the invention is a template wherein the contrastingcolors are permanent and not subject to wear under normal conditions ofuse.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a template by whichextreme accuracy of inscribed character formation may be attained.

A further object of the invention is a template by which the centeringoi the inscription may be readily effected on the writing surface.

The invention also seeks ready means of positioning the template wherebythe characters may be quickly inscribed in the desired sequence.

It is a further obj ect of the invention to provide a scribing devicewhich is practical from the standpoint of ease and accuracy ofmanufacture and use;

These and other objects of the invention and the means for theirattainment will be more apparent from the following detailed descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawings illustrating apreferred embodiment and in Figure 1y is a view showing the scribingdevice of this invention and its use Figure 2 is a view showing atemplate in plan;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view on an enlarged scale showing details ofthe template;

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 3looking in the direction of the arrows:

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view of the template and charactergroove therein showing the tracer pin in a character groove; and

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 5 but showing a modiiied tracer pinand character groove;

Referring rst to Figure 1, a writing surface,

such as a sheet of drawing paper or tracing cloth,

is indicated at 9 carried upon, say, a drawing board I0. A scribingdevice indicated generally at II is adapted to inscribe, by means of apen I2, or other writing instrument, letters, numerals, diagrams orother characters I3 on the wrlt- 6 ing surface 9 byvbeing guided, as bythe movement of a tracer pin I4, in character grooves I5 formed in atemplate I6. The 'scribing device is also controlled, in its movementsby a tail pin I1 positioned in a horizontal groove I8, also in 10 thetemplate I6. This groove I8 is parallel to the line of lettering. Thegroove I 8 is maintained in parallel relationship with the line oflettering, say, by being guided and positioned by a straight edge, suchas the T-square I9. 15

The scribing device, in the illustrated embodinient, comprises a bodymember, Figure l, elongated and relatively narrow in Width forapproximately half its length, as illustrated at 22. From this point,the body member increases progressive- 20 1y in width toward theopposite end, as at 23. At the latter end, the body member is bifurcatedor formed with two arms 24 and 25 spaced apart where they join the bodyand diverging progressively. 25

In Figure 1, the scribing device occupies generally the position itassumes when used to in.. scribe characters.

The near arm 24 is provided, preferably, with a hardened tracer pin I4xed therein. 30

The end of the tracer pin I4 is received in the maracter grooves I5 ofthe template I 6. These character grooves I5 are formed in the templateqIt in the outline of the Writing instrument. The inclination andproportions of the character 35 grooves bear a definite relationship tothe angula;` relation of the lines joining, respectively, the writinginstrument and tracer pin with the tail pin and the desired inclinationof the inscribed characters I3. 40

Proximate the arms 24, 25, that portion 23 of the body which is ofprogressively increasing width, is also of increased thickness, thevertical sides 3l being plane and diverging for convenient graspbetween, say, the thumb and middle nger, 45 the index nger resting onthe upper surface which is conveniently slightly concave, in atransverse direction.

The tail pin I'I slides freely in the horizontal groove I8 of thetemplate I6 as the tracer pin 50 pin I4 follows, in the charactergroove, the outline of the character being inscribed. To retain the tailpin II in the groove I8, the extremity of the end 22 is weighted. Asshown, a plug or Weight 38 of some heavy material, such as lead, 55

; writing surface.

is carried by the end. By means of the weighted end, the seribing devicemay be moved back and forth along the template and rotated throughappreciable angles about the axis of the tail pin Il without danger ofthe tail pin leaving the horiv zontal groove I8.

It is proposed, with the scribing device of this invention, to inscribecharacters of varying heights and line thicknesses. While any writinginstrument, a stylus, a graphite or crayon pencil, for instance, may beused, there is illustrated, for convenience, a pen of the kind disclosedin Patent Number 1,528,142 dated March 3, 1925, having a tubular inkreceiving reservoir and tubular ink delivering nozzle and a rod likecleaning device disposed within the tubular portion of a smallerdiameter at its lower end than the interior diameter of the nozzle,whereby ink may now outwardly around the lower end of the cleaningdevice. In practice, the end of the cleaning device rests on the writingsurface 9 and the lower edge of the delivery tube is slightly above thesurface 9. To retain the parts in such relative position, a raisingscrew 49 is carried with the remote arm 25.

The arm is provided with at least one and preferably two or morethreaded apertures 41 at different distances from the pen I2. Theraising screw comprises a threaded shank for reception in the aperture4`I, and a blunt bearing end which rests and Slides over the surface 9.It has a head, conveniently knurled, by which the shank is turned in thethreaded aperture and the elevation of the arm 25 adjusted above thesurface 9, and thus the mouth of the pens delivery nozzle is maintainedat the .proper distance above the writing surface 9. When the raisingscrew 49 is in adjusted position, it may be locked in that position bythe lock nut 50.

To receive the writing instrument I2, the extremity of the remote arm 25is apertured and on the median line the arm 25 is slotted with arelatively wide slot from the end inwardly on a diameter of theaperture, the slot terminating in an aperture 55. The bifurcated end ofthe arm 25 may then be drawn together by a clamping screw 56 to draw thesides tightly against a writing instrument I2 in the writing instrumentaperture and hold it in position.

When a pen, adapted to form thin lines, is used, the raising screw isplaced in the aperture nearest thereto in order that the raising screwmay be as close to the pen as possible for accurately positioning thepen with respect to the If, however, a letter is being formed ofrelatively great width, the raising screw would wipe into the letter andcause a blot. In order to avoid this, the raising screw is moved intothe more remote aperture and thus the raising screw may be adjusted bothvertically and laterally with respect to the writing instrument.

So much of the scribing device as has been described forms the subjectmatter of copending applications, Serial No. 671,464 filed May 17, 1933and Serial No. 671,465 led May 17, 1933, respectively.

The template I6 of this invention comprises an elongated rectangularrule like member 60 which is also rectangular in cross-section. It ispreferably accurately made so that at least its side edge 62 is astraight edge to cooperate with a straight edge I9 on the drawing board.'Ihe groove I 8 is, of course, parallel to the edge 62 so that thelettering may be formed on a horizontal line on the drawing or otherwriting surface 9.

The template I6 affords a contrast between the character grooves I 5 andthe surface or background 63. The character grooves, and in fact all thegrooves, are preferably black, or a dark color, while the face 63 of thetemplate is white. or a light color. In manufacture, a laminatedconstruction is proposed. The body or inner portion 64 is preferably ofblack Celluloid with a relatively thin facing strip 66, 61 secured tothe upper and lower faces. Conveniently, these facing pieces arecemented to the inner body and in practice the body 64, is, say, .100"thick, while the facing strips 66, 61 are .010" thick.

The grooves, both character and tail pin grooves, are advantageouslyengraved on the upper surface, the engraving tool cutting through thewhite upper facing strip 66 into the black body 64 so that the groovesshow clearly and distinctly in black against a white background 63.

In making the template of celluloid, there are the added advantages thatthe template, and its component parts before assembly, remain dat andstraight. The edges of the grooves are cleanly cut and smooth withoutadditional treatment. They hold their shape and do not wear in use sothat clear cut, even and exact lettering is always produced. Any ink ordirt winch accumulates can be readily washed on.

The bottom of the grooves in every instance is slightly wider than theWidth of the end of the pin tting therein to insure freedom of movement.While the ideal shape of groove is that shown in Figure 6 with the sidewalls 68 vertical and the surface 69 of the end of the pin I4 or IIparallel thereto, it has been found advantageous in manufacture toincline the walls 'I0 slightly toward the bottom of the groove as shownin Figure 5, and form the end of a frusto-conical pin I4 or I1 whichmoves therein on a taper of a slightly less angle to the vertical. Inpractice, the taper of the pin is at an angle of say 5 to the verticalwhile the angles of the walls are, say, 71/2 to the vertical. Suchrelation hasbeen found satisfactory in use.

It will be noticed that in this construction, the end of the pin is incontact at all times with the flat bottom of the engraving cut and thatthe sides of the engraving cut act as end stops only to guide the pin. Aslight side play of at least .001" is necessary to insure the smoothmotion when the tracer pin is run in the groove of a character.

The scale I2 along the lower or straight edge of the template isintended to aid in locating or centering a line of lettering. Each spaceI3 on the scale 'I2 represents the average distance from center tocenter, between letters or other characters I5. The center line or markon the scale is numbered zero (0) and equal divisions on opposite sidesare appropriately numbered, as shown, from the center in each direction.

The function of the scale may best be understood by describing its usevin a specific problem. Assuming that it is desired to center the wordsBUCHANAN STREET, the scale would aid as follows: 'I'he two words containfourteen normal letters, with a space between the words equal to thewidth of a normal letter, making a total of fifteen spaces. The centerof the inscription is, therefore, half this distance, at a distance of71/2 spaces from the end. The zero on the scale is, therefore, broughtto a point on which the line of lettering is to be centered and a markis made on the writing surface 9 seven and one half spaces to the left.The template is then moved so that the pen will be directly over thismark when the tracer pin I4 is in and at the base of the vertical leg ofthe letter B, By starting letter B in this position and lettering thewords BUCHANAN STREET with a normal spacing between characters, thedistance between the first letter B and the last letter T will beuniformly spaced from the center of the group.

Referring to Figures 2, 3 and 4, a dot 'Il is shown as engraved aboveand in line with the left extremity of each character and is used as anaid in determining the spacing of a letter about to be made from the onejust completed. That is, the tracer pin Il of the scriber is set intothe dot 'M of a letter next to be inscribed and then by glancing at thepen the spacing from the letter which has just been completed can bejudged quite accurately and the template moved by means of the tracerpin to the desired position. The tracer pin is then removed from the dotwithout in the meantime moving the template and the pin is then insertedin the character groove of the letter which is then scribed.

It will thus be seen that a template as a component element of ascribing device has been provided which is convenient to use, quicklymanipulated, durable and accurate in guiding a scriber in the formationof various and sundry characters, that is, letters, numerals, designs,etc. It is capable of having formed in its surface character grooves ofa wide variety of shapes and widths.

Various modications will occur to those skilled in the art in thecomposition, configuration and disposition of the component elementsgoing to make up the invention as a whole as well as in the substitutiontherein of features performing equivalent functions and no limitation isintended by the phraseology of the foregoing description orillustrations in the annexed drawings.

What is claimed iszl. In a scribing device, a template for use with ascriber and formed with a groove to receive a scriber tail pin andcharacter grooves to receive a scriber tracer pin, and comprising acomposite laminated body whereof one lamination is of a colorcontrasting with another lamination and formed with grooves passingthrough the last named lamination and penetrating said nrst namedlamination.

2. In a scribing device, a template for use with a scriber and formedwith a groove to receive a scriber tail pin and character grooves toreceive a scriber tracer pin, and comprising an inner lamination of adark color and an outer lamina.- tion on each face thereof of a lightcolor and grooves formed in one outer lamination and penetrating saidinner lamination.

3. In a scribing device, a template for use with a scriber and formedwith a groove to receive a scriber tail pin and character grooves toreceive a scriber tracer pin having a flat end and the surface proximatethereto defined by a line in a plane including the axis and revolvingthereabout. and whereof the bottom of the groove is flat, the bottom of.the character grooves being slightly wider than the end of the tracerpin, the sides of the grooves being planar.

4. In a scribing device, a template for use with a scriber and formedwith a groove to receive a scriber tail pin and character grooves toreceive a scriber tracer pin having a frusto-conical end, the bottom ofa groove being slightly wider than the end of a pin and the walls of thegroove lying at an angle to the bottom greater than the angle of thesurface of the end of the pin.

5. In a scribing device, a template for use with a scriber and formedwith a groove to receive a scriber tail pin and character grooves toreceive a scriber tracer pin, and comprising a composite laminated bodywhereof an inner lamination is of a color contrasting with the outerlamination and formed with a plurality of character grooves passingthrough the outer lamination and penetrating said inner lamination and ascale along one edge whereof the graduations are spaced a distancesubstantially equal to the average distance from center to center of thecharacters to be formed and having its zero graduation in the center ofthe scale.

6. In a scribing device, a template for use with a scriber and formedwith a groove to receive a scriber tail pin and character grooves toreceive a scriber tracer pin, and a plurality of substantially circularrecesses disposed above the line of the character groove's,respectively, for the reception of the tracer pin, each of said recessesbeing so disposed with respect to a character that, with the tracer pintherein, and when the writing instrument is over a given scribed char-'B acter, the corresponding character groove is positioned to receivethe tracer pin in the scribing of said character.

ADOLF W. UUFFEL.

